Moving beyond absence of suffering toward positive welfare experiences in chickens requires measuring joy, play, and reward-seeking behaviours; evidence increasingly shows these are meaningful and measurable.
The welfare of farmed chickens has traditionally been assessed by measuring negative states — disease, injury, fear. The emerging positive welfare framework seeks to assess genuine positive experiences: opportunities for play, choice, reward, and social affiliation. Dust bathing in chickens is among the most studied positive welfare behaviours — hens show strong appetitive motivation for dust bathing substrate and display relaxed affective states during and after bathing.